My radio station, which has been dying a slow death the past two years and is just about to vacate the building, had a community sale yesterday to get rid of all its vinyl. Thousands and thousand of albums, the majority of them from a window covering the late '80s. Scraping Foetus off the Wheel, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Microdisney, Dos, Death of Samantha, Greater Than One...it really felt like wandering around some creaky old museum for college radio circa 1987. Nothing was organized, of course, so the whole time I was there they were still bringing down huge bins of albums from upstairs. I'm more particular about shape than such a sale warrants, so I ended up putting back about 20% of what I grabbed.

1) Stuff I'm embarrassed to be buying at my age (and may or may not ever play):

Laughing Hyenas -- Merry Go RoundDivine Horseman -- Middle of the NightDas Damen -- TriskaidekaphobeKeith LeBlanc -- Stranger Than Fiction (what we called "Chris Twomey music" at the monthly I used to write for in the mid-'80s)

2) Album I bought even though I know I already hate it: Van Dyke Parks -- Song Cycle (Dutch resissue)

3) Album I bought just because it's a little rare: Kensington Market -- Aardvark

Also a bunch of 7-inches from a series called "A Fiftieth Anniversary Project" put out by Capac--20th-century-type stuff, I think. They charged me $55 for everything, and I got a $30 credit for turning in my access card. Typical collector mindset: all I could think of as I left were the three albums other people just beat me to (one of the Bo Diddley Chess reissues, the Neil Young cover album The Bridge, and Nico's The End).

Of course, they never quote you in full; the next thing I said was something like, "But I wish them all the luck in the world." The way it's rendered, it sounds like I'm really down on the station. And it's Aardvark by Kensington Market--in a bizarre coincidence, I made the exact same mistake in my italicization above (accidentally, as I do know which is which).

$1.50 each. The Roy Clark was sealed, the other three in very good shape. I basically bought the Tom Jones for the cover.

On a related note, I was browsing through all the ridiculously overpriced new vinyl at a mall store last week (actually situated right near the entrance now), seeing albums I bought 35 years ago and others I should have bought 35 years ago, and one question seemed obvious to me: who's going to buy this stuff? Maybe I'm way wrong, but my guess is no one--I'm looking forward to five years from now, when the bottom drops out a second time and all those records can be picked up for next to nothing.

Peter (solo Peter Yarrow, '72, with a "register to vote" reminder on the inside gatefold; apparently either sold few copies or was purchased in great quantity by Nixon lovers)Mud Slide Slim -- James Taylor (never owned a copy)Circles in the Stream -- Bruce Cockburn (double-live, Massey Hall '77; nothing from Goin' Down the Road, unfortunately)Ten Man Mop -- Steeleye Span (actual title three times as long)Summer Solstice -- Maddy Prior & Tim Hart

Also Elvis Costello's Spike, which may or may not be folkie, I don't know.

for a single dollur... came on pink vinyl and features a pretty catchy cover of miaow's (?) "when it all comes down" which actually probably ranks amongst my top favorite unrest songs as of now. it's surprisingly how easily they translate into songs more dynamic than their usual affair

for a single dollur... came on pink vinyl and features a pretty catchy cover of miaow's (?) "when it all comes down" which actually probably ranks amongst my top favorite unrest songs as of now. it's surprisingly how easily they translate into songs more dynamic than their usual affair

it's so great and so different - whereas unrest always seemed to thrive in singular melodies done continuously, "when it all comes down" jumps from one to another just totally fluid. it feels crammed - but less like an office elevator, and more so like dorm-room shower.

Was in Krakow the past two weekends, and made a great haul -- some Polish new wave, couple of synth-prog records, and then maybe a hundred sound postcards, which was a popular format for distributing western music in Poland in the '60s and '70s. Woke up this morning with the inconsolable urge to buy more postcards. Then, at my local flea market here in Neukölln, I actually did score one: a German one, with an image of the Berlin Kongreßhalle; the song is "The River Kwai March," whistles and all. Sometimes, the record gods smile upon us.

(I also got some Bummi flexidiscs, starring the adventures of a cartoon bear. Score!)

If I want I can go back and get New Order's "Get Ready" and "Waitinf Or The Siren's Call" and/or also Massive Attack's "100th Window". Also the first Herc & Love Affair album and Simian Mobile Disco's "Attack Decay Sustain Release" or whatever it's called

I've mentioned this flea market before on this thread, a guy who alternates (arbitrarily, I'd say) between over-charging and giving stuff away. Today he had about 20-25 sealed albums sitting on top of his 5/$10 bins. Almost all of them were MOR from the '60s. I asked him where they came from (an estate sale), and if they were also $2 each (yes). I bought 15:

There's a temptation not to open them, but a) I open everything, and don't resell anything, and b) except for maybe the Streisand, Ann-Margaret, and Marty Robbins, they're worthless anyway. (Nine still have their original price tags--they were all bought at Simpson's for $3.33.) I left a few Goulets and Vales behind, also a Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin; I felt stupid buying so much stuff I really have no interest in. (Translation: I'll be back next week to see if they're still there.)

Nah, all CD, but they're well out of print and generally fetch pretty high prices (assuming the people selling them know what they're selling). And understandably. The UK comps in particular are fantastic.

I've been working my way through all those sealed MOR albums I listed just above, and, halfway through, I've been surprised that not one of them thus far has had an inner sleeve. Probably 99% of the '60s albums I've ever bought have been used, so by the time they reached me someone had included a sleeve. I'd never really given this any thought: when did the inner sleeve become standard practice? Late '60s?